Number of West Nile cases in humans falls drastically

Published 5:30 am, Friday, August 29, 2008

Roy Metcalf returns home to a cheering crowd of family and friends from the Jersey Village Baptist Church on Thursday.

Roy Metcalf returns home to a cheering crowd of family and friends from the Jersey Village Baptist Church on Thursday.

Photo: MAYRA BELTRÁN PHOTOS, CHRONICLE

Houston man's battle with West Nile rarer as cases plummet

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Richard Metcalf describes his father, Roy, as "not an outdoors guy," so it was a bit of a surprise when the Jersey Village resident, 83, contracted the West Nile virus a year ago.

"It was during National Night Out last summer," said Metcalf, 54, of the night Roy Metcalf was bitten by an infected mosquito. "For 10 years, my parents have been National Night Out block captains, and they sat outside for two hours that Thursday night.

"On Friday, he wasn't feeling good, and he went to the doctor, who sent him to another doctor when he suspected West Nile from the symptoms. On Saturday, he was feeling worse, and that night he went to the emergency room," Richard Metcalf said. "By Sunday, he was on a ventilator, so it's been a little bit over a year since he's been home."

Roy Metcalf came home Thursday afternoon to a throng of well-wishers, a fire truck with flashing lights, a "welcome home" banner and serenading members of the congregation of Jersey Village Baptist Church. As medical personnel helped him out of the ambulance, he flashed a big smile and waved weakly at the beaming faces.

While Metcalf's case was unfortunate, the West Nile news overall was good in the summer of 2007 as there were only 20 human diagnoses of the disease after 40 in 2006. The news this summer is even better.

Only one human case has been diagnosed this year, and while results are often slow to travel back to city health officials, it seems the city is on pace to drastically reduce its number of human diagnoses.

The decline in cases comes despite weather patterns that normally produce optimal breeding conditions for the Culex mosquito, the carrier of the virus.

"Most of the time, when there's a pretty intense disease transmission season, it normally occurs in drier weather, and not when we get a lot of rain," Bueno said. This occurs due to the scarcity of water sources, creating a "greater interaction between birds and mosquitoes and better concentration."

Equally as encouraging is the fact that the county has identified only 20 mosquito samples this year that were positive for the virus. That compares to 86 last year.

Bueno cautioned that preventive measures such as wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants when outdoors as well as insect repellant should be continued.

Such measures would greatly reduce county residents' chances of experiencing Metcalf's ordeal.

"It's a devastating disease, and it virtually destroyed every muscle in his body," said Metcalf's wife of 57 years, June. "I never thought I'd see him in a wheelchair. We've been to four hospitals, and every one of them has done a great job."